Curiosity Killed the Cat
by animequicksandlover
Summary: Anko is curious about the old swamp in the forest of death, but when she discovers its terrible truth, can she escape, or will the nin meet her fate in the dark fen? Rated for character death and mild swearing.


_I finally got around to writing a quicksand fic with Anko. I've been wanting to write one for a while, but was busy with a few things. I didn't get any reviews on my Itachi fic, so I hope I can make up for it with this one. After all, Anko is one of the more attractive kunoichi, I think. Unfortunately, this one has a grim ending...probably the last one I write for a while that ends badly. I want to get away from Naruto fics for a while too. I may write a Bleach fic...hmmm...Orihime or Rukia in quicksand...lovely thought. But for now, enjoy this one, and please review._

Anko's long khaki trench coat flapped in the air like a waving flag as she leaped down from the tree branch, throwing three shuriken into a tree before she landed perfectly on her feet. She looked at her target and smiled at her work: A perfect hit. She brushed her pupleish hair aside and wiped away the sweat that had beaded around her headband. It was a hot day, and it felt like one of the hottest the kunoichi had ever seen. Even in the forest of death where she had come to train in private, even under the shade of the tall trees, the heat was getting to her.

"Damn, who ordered the blast furnace?" She muttered. No sense in standing around complaining to the trees about the heat though. Mitarashi Anko had come here to train, and Mitarashi Anko was going to train. "Hmmm..." She mused as she looked around. She was alone. No one ever came into the Forest of Death. The few easy ways in were fenced off for safety reasons, the young genin only came here to train, and the seasoned nins had no real business in the dark woods, so she felt comfortable no one was going to see here out here. She let the trench coat slip off of her shoulders, and fall from her arms. The air felt cooler through her fishnet shirt, and she smiled again. The nin cautiously scanned the forest around her again. Despite the fact that she only ever wore the trenchcoat over a fishnet undershirt, she never let anyone see more of her than that.

"Now, with that burden out of the way," She said out loud, "I can get back to what I was doing." She leapt into the air, catching a branch in her right hand, and flipping into a somersault, landing on the thick limb of another tree. "Ha! That's better." She said. She began hopping from branch to branch, swinging and jumping her way through the forest from tree to tree until she had reached the old swamp near the southern border. She gazed out at the expanse of boggy wetland, and hopped down from the cypress tree she was crouched on, landing on the damp ground near the swamp.

There was always something about the swamp that had intrigued Anko, even from an early age. There were stories she'd heard in youth about people getting sucked down to their deaths in the bottomless pools of quicksand here. Even now that she was older, the mysterious aura of the place still mesmerized her, like a snake hypnotizes a bird sometimes. She didn't really believe that the place was evil in itself, or that there were deadly sucking bog-holes that grabbed unwary souls and dragged them down to their deaths like the stories said, but there was some kind of primordial darkness to it nonetheless. She had never been inside the swamp, and as she looked at it, she decided that today would be the day.

Anko stepped into the swamp, and the cool water flowed over her feet. It felt good on a hot day like this, and she lowered her other foot in. She waded through the shallow water, deeper into the swamp. The water splashed against her metal leg-guards as she pushed some tall cat-tails out of her way. There was an island up ahead, and Anko waded toward it. Suddenly, the ground gave way, and she fell into the water, splashing around until she regained her balance. She found solid ground, and stood, now soaking wet. She coughed and laughed at her clumsiness.

"This must be where the stories of the quicksand came from." She said to herself. Despite the fact that she had clumsily fallen into a sinkhole, she actually felt alot better now that she was wet. It was almost like taking a cold shower. She walked upon the island, which was little more than a low silty deposit that was probably under water during the wet season. She looked down at her short brown leather skirt, now almost black from being immersed in water. "Damn, I bet it's ruined...my favorite one too." She grumbled. "Oh well..." She started to walk, but her right foot wouldn't move. "What the..." She said, looking down again. Her feet had sunk into the wet silt. She tried to lift her legs, first her right, then her left. The mud wouldn't let go, and as she tried to get free, she sank past the tops of her shoes, and her legs began slowly sliding into the mass. "Wha...What is this?!" Anko gasped. She grabbed her left leg and tried to wrench it free from the muck, but doing so forced her right leg down to the knee. In an awkward position, she had to place her weight on her left leg, and soon it was just as deep as her right. The wet silty muck felt cold and smooth against her legs. It wouldv'e felt deliciously wonderful were it not holding onto her shoes and her leg guards like concrete. She gave another tug of her right leg, but she knew there was no getting out easily.

"Um..." She said, looking around. "God, I'm trapped in this...there has to be a way out, damnit." She struggled, trying to loosen the grip of the sandy sludge, but it proved stronger, and Anko soon found herself up to her thighs, her legs aching from trying to get free. "Damnit...Damnit..." Anko panted. She had to get out. If the other jonin found her like this, they'd never let her live it down, the talented and skilled Mitarashi Anko stuck in mud half-naked. She blushed at the thought, and started rocking back and forth, noticing that most of the island jiggled and bobbed as she moved. She was still sinking, and now the mud was starting up her hips, covering her skirt, and making its way higher with each second. She began to get scared.

"This...it can't be..." She stammered, remembering all of the stories. "No..." She started fighting it even harder as she sank to her stomach, the wet earth cold and silky against her bare skin. "Quicksand...." She gasped. "Oh damn..." She began panting, and desperately looking around for something to grab onto. "Help!" She called, her voice echoing through the Forest of Death. "Help me!" She turned her attention back to the quicksand that was inching up her body. She spread her arms out, and started making swimming motions, but soon the sticky silt began to weigh on her arms as it clung to them, and as she sank past her breasts to her armpits, her arms began to go under as well.

"Help me, please!" Anko screamed. "Somebody! I can't get out!" She tried to lift her arms, but they were stuck fast in the quicksand that now began to creep over her shoulders. "Help!" She screamed again. "Hurry! I don't want to die!" She knew screaming was no use, and gave up trying to call for help. She gave a couple more half-hearted jerks before stopping her struggling as the quicksand reached her neck. She had always thought she would die on some mission, that she would go down fighting, but not like this. She didn't want to go out like this, drowning in some stupid swamp. She whimpered, and tears came to her eyes as she sank to her chin. This was it...the stories were all true, and she was stupid enough to ignore them, and this was how she was going to die. "Please..." Anko whispered, tilting her head back more and more, scared to death of letting the quicksand cover her mouth. But it soon crept up her cheeks, and reached the edges of her lips. "No..." She gasped. She closed her brown eyes and let the quicksand take her down to her nose. Tears streamed from her closed eyes, and she inhaled once more through her nose before it too went under. She knew that the end was near, and opened her eyes once more to get one last look at the sunlight before she went under. Everything went black, and she felt the quicksand close around her head. Soon, there was no signs at all that anyone had ever been on the small island in the swamp.


End file.
